Haw Par Villa

- July 17, 2013

A typical day consists of...

A swim, somewhere along the day there will be a visit to the pool...

This time we went early in the morning. Oisin was doing his maths homework and i thought that it would be good to get Ghin some swimming lessons. He can now jump from the side of the pool and swim over to me. Which is great. I'm planning to do cycling next.

There is Ghin, the pool all to himself...

Ah, bliss....

There's me!!! The wet look!!! :-)

Then we do something quirky. Today we went to Haw Par Villa.

Haw Par Villa is a weird place. A pleasure garden filled with moralising. It was built using the fortune that Aw Book Haw and Aw Book Par built on the Tiger Balm empire. Oisin could not quite believe that this was done through Tiger Balm. WHAT???!!! He said. The idea was to teach younger Chinese about their legends and culture, as well as Bhuddist philosophy. This was done through the medium of what appears to be outsider art.

The famous hill climb into Haw Par Villa

Here is Lady White Snake

I have to say Chinese women kick ass. This is where i get it from. I blame my Chinese and my Minangkerbau matrilineal/matriarchal heritage. In the legend of Lady White Snake, a monk jealous of the love Lady White Snake (who is actually a snake turned into a woman) and her mortal husband bear for each other capture her husband and she goes to rescue him. In the process she kills lots of people and has to then later, after successfully rescuing him, atone for her sins. She is then redeemed by her sons prayers for her. In this diorama Lady White Snake is ripping apart a temple with the help of water spirits.

Random garuda from Bali

The entrance to the Ten Courts of Hell

Chinese people do not believe in sheilding children from the harsh realities of life or indeed, death. For generations the diorama of the ten courts of hell have been used by sadistic parents to incalcate a sense of discipline and fear in their offspring. I do not know if reducing under fives to quivering blobs of piety was Mr Aw's purpose when he set this up, but this is what it has been used for. I remember myself walking through the passages and promising to be a much better child after this. It left an indelible scar. I emerged with two lasting impressions. One, that Chinese sculptures were truly awful. The second was, thank god i am not Chinese, but Catholic.

Anyway, only Oisin went in. Anthroposophy has a remarkably similar conception of life after death. You are faced with all your actions in your past life. You are then made to atone for these. In Chinese hell you are chopped to pieces, put into boiling oil, sliced through, have your heart cut out, etc. In anthroposophy your soul suffers. This happens because you still desire things. You suffer because you cannot fulfil this and until this suffering is done with you will stay in this realm. When its all done, then your soul is free, you are given the draught of forgetfulness and you forget everything you have done...then you go on to do it all over again.

Reincarnation is the best reason to be good in this life. I always say, im getting it all right in this life cos i dont want to come back in the next one. Actually this does not work. You absolutely must come back. If you do not u hold back the evolution of human beings.